'That's Not Cool', Teens and Dating Violence

By Guillermo Rodriguez, Community Education Coordinator, and Rocio Fuentes-Diaz, Office Manager at WCS~DdM

Women's Crisis Support~Defensa de Mujeres has a strong belief that the ones who hold the key to preventing violence are the youth in our community! Statistics have shown that those with the highest risk of dating violence are between the ages of 16 and 24. Studies have also shown that 1 in 4 teens experience violence in a relationship.

The youth in our community deserve better. They deserve to live lives free of violence. With this in mind, our Prevention Team and the Children & Youth Department at WCS~DdM collaborate throughout the year on several events to raise awareness on teen dating violence. The events combine educational awareness activities with other activities teens will enjoy, such as our "Safe Summer Kick Off" event which we held at the beach last year. Last year, we also supported a group of teen volunteers in performing a skit about teen dating violence and airing the skit on a local radio station.

Next month is National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month. Across the country, advocacy groups alongside youth will be working hard to put on events to bring awareness to the problem of teen dating violence. Teen volunteers with Women's Crisis Support~Defensa de Mujeres will be collaborating with staff and students at in bringing the "That's Not Cool" Campaign—a national public education campaign that uses digital examples of controlling, pressuring, and threatening behavior to raise awareness about and prevent teen dating abuse—to the Watsonville High campus.

Students, volunteers, and staff will also put on a "Chalk it Out" event on Friday, Feb. 10 during which participants will use chalk to cover the campus with awareness and prevention messages on dating violence. During the school's widely popular "King of Hearts" rally, a group of students will also be performing a skit on dating violence. There will also be a "Chalk it Out" event at Pajaro Valley High School on Monday, Feb. 13 and a girls self defense class will be held on Saturday, Feb. 4 in Watsonville. The self defense class is open to all girls in our community between the ages of 12 and 17.

In an effort to reach teens directly, Women's Crisis Support~Defensa de Mujeres also has a new teen blog at I.Stand. There, teens can find blog posts, event notices, and resources that interest them. The blog is updated regularly and monitored by the Prevention Staff.

The mission of Women's Crisis Support~Defensa de Mujeres is to put an end to Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. What better way to prevent such horrible crimes than by educating and creating greater awareness in our youth. One of our goals is and will always be to promote safe and healthy relationships among our youth to prevent and put an end to dating and sexual violence. We encourage all members of the community to get involved in helping prevent violence. For more information about our prevention events and efforts call (831) 707-2207 or visit http://wcs-ddm.org.